Do we like Delta Goodrem?
Our score: 8 out of 10. Years of Pride stages, a hospital-focused foundation and no harmful words or company found, though the record on wider issues is thin.
Delta Goodrem was a Sydney kid who started piano, singing and acting lessons at seven. She got herself noticed with a demo tape at 12 and landed on Neighbours as Nina Tucker in 2002. Her single Born To Try went to number one, and the debut album Innocent Eyes sat atop the Australian chart for a record 25 weeks. That is a long run in the spotlight for someone who started so young.
The latest chapter is a big one. She represented Australia in Vienna with the ballad Eclipse and came fourth on 287 points, Australia's best Eurovision result since 2016, and second in the jury vote. It was a messy contest, with five broadcasters pulling out over Israel's inclusion and booing when Israel placed second. We found no statement from her on that dispute, so where you land on it is your call.
The less fun news is that NSW Police applied for an AVO on her behalf after a 33-year-old man was charged with allegedly using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend her online around Eurovision. He appeared at Bankstown Local Court, and no outcome was reported in what we read. Pedestrian also notes that a man charged in 2020 was later convicted of stalking her. She is the target in all of this, and nothing is alleged against her.
On the harm test she comes up clean. Attitude calls her a proud LGBTQ+ ally who has played Pride stages, including Sydney Mardi Gras and Mighty Hoopla. She said her LGBTQ+ fans make her feel seen. In 2015 she wrote an original song for two friends' wedding in West Hollywood, which was read as support for marriage equality. We found nothing on women's rights, climate or vaccines beyond the next paragraph, so that part of the record is thin.
The one tussle we found was in 2021, when NSW Health posted a COVID vaccination story with cartoon needles pointing at her photo. She called it disturbing, objecting to her own image being used that way, and the department apologised the next day for an error of judgement. That is a fuss about a photo, not a stance on vaccines. Her recent work is pop albums, Eurovision and a Netflix rom-com. None of it is with the culture-war crowd.
The good stuff is real. She launched the Delta Goodrem Foundation in 2020 with St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, starting with research funding for blood cancers and now backing nurses and a clinical exchange. She says the healthcare workers who looked after her are angels in this world. We didn't find an independently reported total raised, so we won't put a number on it.